"The great thing about my career is that I would not have been devastated had it not worked out," she explained. "I had no expectations. So by not having expectations, I had no knowledge of the rules."

In 1997, the actress turned 50, made a controversial, off-the-wall appearance on Letterman's show, and posed nude for Playboy magazine. The next year, she won good reviews for her riveting role with Robert Duvall in the The Apostle.

"You work, work, work and every once in a while in your career something comes along to remind you: This is why you do it, this is why you're an actor." said Fawcett, who shared her pain with fans (Farrah's Story, 2009), then lost her long battle with anal cancer.